The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion
"The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion" is the twenty-fourth episode of the third season of Friends, which aired on May 8, 1997. Plot The episode begins with a scene at the coffee shop where Monica is about to tell her five friends a story regarding her relationship with Pete when she is interrupted by two gentlemen named Tomas and Tim, who ask Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey to make some room on a sofa because all the other seats in the shop have been taken. After they have made some room for Tomas and Tim, Tomas suddenly bursts into tears, interrupting Monica again as she makes a second attempt to begin her story. The friends are left completely bewildered when they overhear Tomas expressing his suspicion that his wife is sleeping with another man, who he believes to be her gynecologist because "he's got access." It turns out that it is in fact Tim who is sleeping with Tomas' wife, which Tim himself remorsefully confesses, causing Joey to rather crudely interrupt their discussion to ask if Tim is the gynecologist Tomas was earlier referring to, only for an irritated Tim to tell him to mind his own business. Tomas then bursts into tears as he absorbs the fact that Tim has been sleeping with his wife, and he ends their friendship before leaving the shop in a loud fury. Tim follows him out, giving the six shocked friends one last embarrassed, apologetic look before he closes the door behind him. After a stunned silence, Phoebe asks Monica what she had been about to say to them before Tomas and Tim interrupted them. Understandably, Monica can no longer remember. Chandler's new boss,Doug, has an unusual symbolic method of congratulating him for all his good work-by slapping him on the buttocks. Chandler is uncomfortable with this, but his colleagues are all jealous of him because the fact that Doug only ever slaps Chandler's backside shows them that Doug isn't really noticing their good work, only Chandler's. Eventually, Chandler tells Doug how it's making him uncomfortable and all the other guys jealous, and Doug agrees stop the slapping. Monica announces Pete's decision to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion. The guys are shocked by this, since they don't think Pete is UFC material, and that the competition may be too tough for him. Nevertheless, Ross goes with Monica to watch Pete's first fight- or rather, Pete's torture at the hands of Tank Abbot, who ends up standing on Pete's neck for twenty minutes before he passes out. Monica tells Pete how she's proud of him and that he can now look back on his attempt to compete in the tournament. Pete is puzzled by her remark about "looking back", as he's decided he's not quitting the tournament in question until he becomes the Ultimate Fighting Champion. The second fighter takes even less time to knock out Pete, and Monica begs him to quit the whole thing. When he refuses, she realizes that she loves him too much to be able to endure watching him suffer this way, so she breaks up with him. Phoebe asks Rachel if it's OK for her to set Ross up with Bonnie, a friend of hers. When Rachel asks for info about Bonnie, Phoebe tells her that Bonnie was bald, to which Rachel consents. When Rachel meets Bonnie at the coffee house, however, she finds out that Bonnie has grown her hair back. She's angry with Phoebe for lying to her about Bonnie, but Phoebe corrects her by saying that Bonnie was bald, and that she's not any more. Rachel realizes that she's sad because she didn't expect Ross to be dating other women so soon after their break-up. Cast and Crew Main Cast Courtney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Supporting Cast Jon Favreau - Pete Becker James Hong - Hoshi ''' '''Christine Taylor - Bonnie Sam McMurray - Doug Steve Park - Phil Joe O'Connor- Stevens John McCarthy - Referee Bruce Buffer - Announcer David Abbott - Tank Abbott Billy Crystal - Tim Robin Williams - Tomas Crew Directed By: Robby Benson Written By: Pang-Ni Landrum, Mark J. Kunerth, Shana Goldberg-Meehan & Scott Silveri Trivia General *Tank Abbott had been an actual UFC heavy weight fighter but he left to return to wrestling in 1999 he returned to UFC in 2003. **Abbott is also the last name of Phoebe's birth mother. *The appearance of Billy Crystal and Robin Williams wasn't in the original script. They were by coincidence in the same building, or the one across the street from where Friends is shot, and the writers asked if they wanted to make a guest appearance. This was the day of shooting so it was just quickly thrown in. Robin and Billy apparently ad libbed the conversation their characters have in the coffee house which the six friends eavesdrop upon, and when Joey irritates Billy's character by interrupting their conversation at one point, this was apparently ad libbed by Matt LeBlanc. The annoyed reaction from Billy's character, who tells Joey to mind his own business, was likewise apparently ad libbed by Billy. The motion picture "Father's Day", starring Billy Crystal and Robin Williams opened in theaters the very next day on May 9th, 1997. *Phoebe knows two girls that shave their heads, in "The One With The Candy Hearts" (S1E14) she mentions Abby. Bonnie is the second one. *This is the last appearance of Jon Favreau as Pete Becker in the series. Goofs *Ross buys an Ultimate Fighting Combo, a large pop and popcorn, at the fight. However, after Ross and Monica sit down, they are never seen again. In the HD version, he visibly puts it down in the long shot when the announcer comes on the ring. However, when Monica talks to Pete at the ring, you can see that the combo was not set on the floor. However, it is possible that Ross took it with him, as he was excited about getting the cup; or that they're simply in a different side of the ring. Episode Navigation Category:Season 3